Shifters Forsaken: Shifter Romance Collection Bks 1-5 Read online

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  Table of Contents

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  Cypher’s Mate

  Shifters Forsaken

  Book 1

  Prologue

  The oldest child could plainly see something was amiss as if he inherently understood the tragedy was about to unfold for years to come.

  There were tears in his startling gray eyes as he stared at his mother, his chin quivering as they stood huddled in a group by the imposing iron gate.

  The weather had turned unexpectedly cold, an ominous dark cloud mirroring the dense sense of morose hovering above the small group.

  “What are we doing here?” he asked, his small voice almost squeaking as she embraced them closer as if trying to ward off the darkness. “What is this place?”

  “Shh!” she whispered, brushing a strand of dark hair away from his face as his brothers tittered amongst themselves, still oblivious to what was going on. She was grateful that at least two of them were too young to understand the betrayal that was being forced upon them.

  “Everything will be all right,” she said in her most reassuring voice although the words cracked as she spoke.

  But it was a lie, of course, and he sensed it, his slate irises shining.

  He was only five, just barely turned, yet he was almost a man it seemed, wise beyond his years.

  My little old soul, she thought mournfully. It will be the hardest for you.

  “You must do your best to take care of your brothers,” she told him. “I have to go away for a while.”

  “Where are you going? For how long?” he demanded, his tone attracting his distracted siblings but she didn’t answer. How could she when she didn’t have one to give?

  Instead, she thrust the sleeping infant from her arms into his and he stood dumbly, staring at the baby before raising his head to look at her.

  “Everything will be fine,” she told him, hoping that there was some conviction in her words but the look on his tiny face and the expressions on his brothers’ told her that she was reassuring no one.

  Least of all myself.

  A sob escaped her lips before she could stop it and she knew she had to leave before she changed her mind. She had to go. There was no other option, not for her and not for them to have a fighting chance in the cruel world into which they had been born.

  “Mama! Mama, where are you going?” the oldest one cried, waking the sleeping baby who began to wail.

  Chaos erupted then, the cries of terror mounting between them.

  Fittingly, fat drops of rain began to fall from the sky as the boys yelled out for her to return.

  “Mama! Mama, come back!” they chorused but she couldn’t no matter how desperately she wished to.

  It’s for the best. I am doing the right thing.

  It was a futile argument because it did nothing to make her feel better about her choice but it was the truth.

  If they remained with her, the danger was far too great, the possibility that they would be discovered for what they were much higher than if they were sent away.

  At least their father will never come looking for them here.

  She didn’t need to remind herself that if he ever found her and saw what she had done, sending the boys away, her life was as good as over.

  But it would be worth it to know that her babies were safe.

  She ran around the corner, her dark hair fanning as she turned, their tiny voices calling out for her, even from the distance between them.

  “Mama! Mama! Mama!”

  It was heartbreaking but she knew she had to be strong. Still, she could not resist peering out from behind the wall to stare at them one last time.

  They seemed too vulnerable, so lost in the world as they stared after her helplessly, their pleas diminishing as they slowly realized that she was not coming back.

  The oldest boy did his best to wrangle them into his small embrace, possibly offering them words of comfort the best way he could.

  They will thank me for this one day, she promised herself. I am saving them.

  Reluctantly, she turned back into the alleyway, hanging her dampening head in sorrow as her tears intermingled with the rain falling from the sky.

  Her only hope now was that they would be rescued together and remain that way.

  They need one another now. They have no one else.

  It was a desperate thought. No one would take four boys under the age of six.

  And certainly not four boys with their devastating powers.

  She swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way across the sodden laneway toward the busy street.

  There was nothing left to do but pray, but she didn’t have high hopes that those prayers would be answered.

  The gods had done nothing to help her thus far. If anything, they had seemed hellbent on destroying her at every opportunity.

  Maybe her sons would have better luck, maybe the world would be a kinder, gentler place by the time they reached maturity. Maybe a cure would be found or a tolerance would be reached.

  But as she disappeared into the unforgiving city, she had a terrible sense of foreboding, intertwined with the almost insurmountable guilt.

  After all, when had their family ever been bestowed good fortune?

  Chapter One

  Just Another Day in Paradise

  “Wake up, sunshine!”

  A pillow smacked her directly in the face and she groaned loudly, waving her arms around in futility, trying to ward off the assault as another whack followed and then another.

  “Leave me alone,” Chloe groaned desperately. “It’s too early! Exams just finished and—”

  “The world is our oyster!” Holly cried, swatting her roommate again playfully. “Come on, Clo! It’s our first day as college grads. Are you going to waste it sleeping all day?”

  “I earned it,” the redhead moaned, turning her back to the too-perky brunette. “I’ve been working my butt off for four years. Anyway, I’m a millennial. Graduating college basically guarantees unemployment, doesn’t it?”

  “I’ve got coffee on,” Holly continued as if Chloe hadn’t dismissed her. Holly would never hear the negative in anything, especially not when her mind was fixated elsewhere.

  “And I’ve got plans for us today.”

  “When did we get married?” Chloe moaned. “Where is your boyfriend? Why are you doing this to me? I’ve been a model roommate! I pay my rent on time! I never party!”

  “Five minutes, girl! Get your butt in gear!”

  Chloe pulled the offending pillow over her head and tried to will herself back to sleep but the idea was ridiculous. The walls in the apartment were far too thin and even if Holly wasn’t banging around in the kitchen with unnecessary
gusto, her singing was atrocious.

  It never ceased to amaze Chloe that her roommate and best friend could constantly entertain a good mood, even at an ungodly hour of the morning.

  Nothing ever seemed to faze Holly, her smile as light as her heart.

  I can’t even imagine living an entire day with a smile on my face, let alone four years. She has to be on Ritalin.

  Sighing with resignation, she tossed the blankets aside and rose to greet the day.

  The California sunlight spilled in from the semi-drawn curtains of her window and Chloe sauntered toward panes of glass to look outside into the city she’d come to call home for the past four years.

  San Francisco was like something out of a storybook to her. She’d never expected to enjoy living in a place of constant sunshine given her propensity for dismal moods. The city had surprised her, exceeding her expectations and eventually the homesickness for Wisconsin had given way to appreciation for the land of golden sunshine.

  Wryly she admitted that Holly had a lot to do with her newfound love of her environment even though she would never openly admit it to anyone.

  And definitely not Holly.

  While the brunette was a plethora of undying energy, it was difficult to deny that she was a bright spot in Chloe’s sometimes dark life.

  They were polar opposites in more ways than just physical appearance. Chloe was fair with blue eyes and a sprinkling of subtle freckles upon a tiny, button nose.

  She was barely over five feet tall but she had a brooding way about her as if she always expected the sky to fall around her head.

  In childhood, her friends had affectionately called her Eeyore after the self-deprecating donkey from Winnie the Pooh.

  Chloe knew that most of her seemingly dismal appearance was just that—an outwardly misunderstood depiction of her somewhat tortured soul.

  It was why her friendship with Holly seemed so unlikely, the smoldering, exotic firecracker bouncing around like Tigger around Chloe’s slower take on life.

  “Coffee and bacon!” Holly sang, off-key and borderline shrill from the kitchen.

  There was no point in fighting it; in a minute, Holly would be back in the bedroom, dragging her out by her shoulder-length tresses if Chloe didn’t act quickly.

  She turned away from the window and padded across the pristine floor of her bedroom.

  In Holly’s bedroom, the hardwood wasn’t even visible.

  Just one more thing that makes Holly Holly. She’s a slob. I’m borderline obsessive/compulsive.

  “Good morning!”

  Chloe jumped at the sound of Rhys’ voice, her heart hammering as he grinned at her from the island where he was leaning over his tablet. He hadn’t even raised his head as he spoke and she wondered how he’d even seen her.

  “Jesus, Rhys. I didn’t know you were here,” Chloe mumbled, glancing down at her white t-shirt and boxer shorts.

  She wasn’t wearing any underwear but next to the voluptuous Holly, Chloe reasoned that Rhys was not looking at her twice.

  Actually, he wasn’t looking anywhere but down at his tablet as if he expected Cypher Maison to erupt from the screen in the flesh.

  Or maybe that would just be my fantasy.

  Slowly, she slid across from her roommate’s boyfriend as Holly scraped a plate of inedible food before her.

  “Eat up,” she announced. “We’re going to the beach and then we have a surprise for you!”

  “The beach isn’t the surprise?” Chloe commented dryly, eyeing the burnt bacon and undercooked scrambled eggs.

  “Nope,” Rhys piped up. “It’s way cooler than that.”

  The couple exchanged a warm look and Chloe was filled with a small twinge of nervousness. She didn’t particularly care for surprises, especially when Holly was doling them out.

  Holly’s idea of fun and Chloe’s were very different animals.

  The redhead poked at the eggs with a fork but she felt Holly’s dark eyes on her, willing her to take a bite.

  She forced one down her throat and plastered a smile on her face.

  “Mm,” she managed to utter as Holly’s pretty features melted into a becoming grin.

  “See? I knew I’d get a smile out of her at some point. They are elusive but Chloe Byler does know how to smile… on occasion… when bribed appropriately.”

  “I had no doubt, babe,” Rhys told her, his eyes still glued to the screen.

  “What are you looking at so intently?” Chloe heard herself asking. It wasn’t like Rhys to pin himself to electronics, not when his beautiful counterpart was flittering about. Chloe had never seen a man as doting as Rhys was toward her roommate.

  They had been together since freshman year and even after all that time together, Rhys stared at Holly as if she was the only woman on the planet.

  It seemed so cliché to Chloe, the entire college romance thing, but what did she know? She’d never even had a real boyfriend. She was hardly the one to give her two cents on relationship advice.

  And it certainly seems to be working for those two.

  “You’ll see!” they chortled in unison. “That’s why it’s called a surprise.”

  God, they even speak at the same time. It’s sickening… in a sweet way. Would I want that? No. Would I? No, definitely… not?

  “Got them!” Rhys screeched and Holly cheered as if they’d won the lottery.

  Chloe’s head was beginning to swim. It was far too early and she still hadn’t had a sip of coffee yet.

  As if reading her mind, Holly slid a University of San Fran mug toward her.

  “What did you get?” Chloe wanted to know.

  “Drink it. You look hungover,” Holly said, gesturing at the coffee.

  “I’m not!” Chloe protested.

  “I know,” Holly snickered. “That’s what makes your expression that much more baffling.”

  Obligingly, Chloe reached for the cup and took a swig. Instantly she felt better, knowing it was psychosomatic but enjoying the sensation all the same.

  “I’m going to have a shower,” Holly declared, kissing Rhys on the cheek. “Then we’ll head over to Ocean Beach.”

  Chloe thought about protesting but she immediately changed her mind. After all, it was shaping up to be a lovely day and what else was she going to do now that exams were done?

  Hanging in and binge-watching Netflix while fermenting? She had her whole life to do that.

  “She’s not arguing,” Rhys said in a stage whisper. “Something might be wrong.”

  Chloe scowled.

  “I don’t fight all the ideas,” she replied, taking another sip of her coffee before also rising to get ready.

  Also, I’m not awake enough to go head to head with both of you.

  “You say that now,” Rhys commented and Chloe eyed him warily.

  “Stop it!” Holly scolded. “You’re going to give her anxiety. Today is going to be a great day, you’ll see.”

  Chloe wished she had more faith in her friend’s words but she decided to keep her skepticism to herself.

  As she ambled back toward her own bathroom, she idly wondered what had made her so cynical in her young age.

  Life had not been kind to Chloe in childhood but she had certainly known people who’d had it much worse.

  At least she’d never been starved or abused in the traditional sense but there was no love in her frigid household, no sense of family among the overachieving Bylers.

  She had two older siblings with whom she had no sense of comradery and a set of lawyering parents who were gone more than they were home.

  Her memories of girlhood consisted of take-out food, being shuttled around from horseback riding lessons to gymnastics classes and hours upon hours of loneliness.

  It became clear very early in life that her parents’ only concern was how they looked to other people. Their family name, status and wealth were paramount. Everything else took back burner, including quality time and love in any form.

  Eventuall
y, Chloe retreated into herself and her schoolwork, graduating top of her class in the Milwaukee private school but she had not gained one meaningful relationship in all her years as a student.

  She was too reserved to join cliques and people quickly took her shyness for standoffishness.

  Not until she’d met Holly who had somehow been attracted to her like a moth to a flame.

  Truthfully, until meeting the vivacious girl, Chloe had not even realized what she was missing.

  The meager social interactions she’d experienced hardly seemed worthy of pursuit and her opinion of romance was based on watching her parents ignore one another on the rare occasions they were in the same room.

  It had never occurred to her that she was missing anything, despite the fact that an aching sense of melancholy lived inside her, the feeling that she wanted something she’d never known.

  For some reason, Holly had sought her out in freshman year during frosh week and hadn’t left her side as if she’d seen something worthwhile in the redhead which Chloe couldn’t see for herself.

  “I don’t hear the shower!” Holly yelled and Chloe shook her head ruefully.

  Maybe it was the fact that Holly was the mother she’d always yearned for and never known, the kind of nurturing woman Chloe had read about in books but never seen in life.

  She is going to be a great mom one day, Chloe thought, stepping into her ensuite to get ready. She’s had loads of practice with me. Or who knows? Maybe that will turn her off to the entire idea.

  Chloe hoped she would be around to meet Holly’s kids but as she stepped into the tub, allowing the hot water to pour down on her slender frame, she was again consumed with a familiar sense of doom.

  No matter how well things seemed to be going in her life, she couldn’t ever seem to shake the sense that the other shoe was about to drop.

  Chloe shoved the fatalistic notions from her mind as she scrubbed herself as if trying to wash away the darkness.

  Let it drop, she thought with grim determination. Just not today.

  Chapter Two